Country Comfort
by MISTRESS-OF-THE-FORBIDDEN-SORT
Summary: A response for the suitsmeme on LJ.


This was a response to a prompt off of the SuitsMeme on Livejournal, asking for a southern boy, Mike. I being a southern girl just had to do it.

Enjoy!

Country Comfort

The first time Harvey noticed it was when Mike was talking to a client and he called her 'ma'am'. He was helping her out of a car after just opening the door for her. It was very gentlemanly of him, really. Harvey's eyes narrowed and he straightened from where he was leaning by the door to the firm. Now, normally Harvey would be pleased that Mike was getting better at dealing with Harvey's eccentric clients and he was but there was something in Mike's voice, a small almost unnoticeable twang, which nagged at Harvey.

"Mr. Ross, thank ya kindly for seeing me to tha door." The woman said, with the air of a true Southern belle as the pair made their way to where Harvey was.

"Of course, ma'am."

_There it was again. _Harvey thought, watching as Mike took notice of him and led the client over to him. It was so faint that Harvey wasn't sure if maybe he was just projecting the woman's accent into Mike's voice or maybe he was just hearing things. He hadn't been sleeping well lately and maybe the exhaustion was catching up to him. Of course, when he thought about why he hadn't been sleeping, _No_, he was not going to go there. Harvey shook his head to clear his thoughts then smiled widely at the woman.

"Ms. Beaumont." He greeted the woman with a kiss on her hand. "Lovely as ever."

"Mr. Specter," Ms. Beaumont began, taking her hand back and smiled warmly at Harvey. "A pleasure as always and ya know flattery will get ya nowhere. I trust ya have been well."

"Yes, I have. That tea of yours works wonders."

"So ya did receive the package that was sent?" She smiled warmly as she linked her arm with Mike.

Harvey noted the way Mike straightened and stood up, seemingly gaining a few inches. "Yes, I did and I still have some in my office." He said, turning his attention to Ms. Beaumont. "If you'd like, when we get to my office, I'll have Mike make us all some."

Ms. Beaumont smiled largely at Mike. "Have ya had any of my tea, Mr. Ross?"

"Mike and yes, ma'am, I have. My mamaw used to make it for me all the time." Mike replied grinning. Harvey, who had narrowed his eyes at the familiarity of Mike with his client, eyebrows skyrocketed at the word Mike used. The only thing he'd ever heard Mike call his only family was grandma. Something was definitely up and it wasn't due to some insomnia-induced daydream. Ms. Beaumont laughed at that and the whole way up to Harvey's office Mike and the client conversed. It wasn't exactly flirting but Harvey couldn't help but be on edge for some reason that his conscious mind wouldn't name. His subconscious was a whole other story but he was ignoring that.

"…then when the spotlight came back on, I was announced and my escort was waiting for me at the end." Ms. Beaumont finished as they neared Donna's desk. Donna gave a quick smile at Harvey and handed him a file before returning to her computer. Harvey gave her one back and opened the door waiting for Mike and Ms. Beaumont.

"Ladies first." Mike said, the twang coming in a bit thicker but not by much.

Harvey quirked an eyebrow and saw Donna shoot Mike a look of surprise then looked at Harvey, inquiringly. Harvey gave a small half-shrug indicating he didn't know.

"Really, Mike, ya are such a gentleman." Ms. Beaumont said entering the room and with a flourish took a seat in one of the chairs.

"Thank you, ma'am." Mike said, blushing prettily. Harvey idly wondered if he could make Mike blush like that in any other situation.

_No Harvey, Bad thoughts_ Harvey thought shaking his head again and closing the door behind him. "Ms. Beaumont, I have the deal ready to be signed…"

"Mr. Spector, I would very much like to tell ya a story." She then proceeded to go off into a spiel about her plantation. Harvey zoned out, already knowing the story as she had told him many times before. It always had a different point but the gist was the same thing. Absentmindedly, he began to watch Mike and was taken aback by the fact that Mike's eyes had lit up when Ms. Beaumont mentioned the name of a Georgian town. He was sitting straight up in his chair and it was almost the same position that Ms. Beaumont's father had been in when he had visited a few weeks prior. Harvey's eyes narrowed and gears began to turn in his head. He didn't know much about Mike's past but he'd done a bit of digging, well Donna did it, but that was just semantics. Mike for the most part had a pretty normal life up until the whole Harvard Fiasco. Harvey had found out pretty much all he could find on Mike. He knew his birthday, his favorite color, where the he'd gotten all of those damn cheap-looking ties, and etc but he hadn't found a hint to where Mike was born and raised before his parents' accident.

"Yer plantation is in Richmond Hill?" Both Ms. Beaumont and Harvey's eyes widened at the thick slow drawl that came from Mike's mouth. Ms. Beaumont's eyes lit up happily while Harvey's jaw literally dropped at the thought of Mike with a southern accent. In all of his fantasies about the boy's origins, never once did Harvey think about a southern state. Mike had always seemed like such a city boy to Harvey that it hadn't occurred to him to look at the Country.

"I knew I could hear a fellow Georgian accent in that voice of yers. What part are ya from?"

"Richmond Hill." Mike replied with a smile and Ms. Beaumont gasped and smiled widely, turning to face Harvey. "Ya didn't tell me that ya had an associate from Georgia."

Harvey's mouth worked and his hands jerked in slow motions to attempt to show something but no words were coming out. He was still floored by the fact that his associate was true-blue southern gentleman. Thankfully, Mike saved him from complete embarrassment.

"He didn't know," Mike said causing Ms. Beaumont to swivel and turn back to him. "I moved ta tha city when I was a young'n. My parents were killed in a car crash when I was 8 and my Mamaw took me in. She lived here in tha city so I had ta move here. The kids didn't take ta me at school very well 'cause they thought that 'cause I talked slower, I wasn't as smart as they were. They used ta make fun of me so I jus' stopped talkin' like I was from some backwata' town and dropped the accent."

"Oh ya poor thing." She said putting her hands on Mike's. "My condolences but ya shouldn't have ta hide you who are jus' 'cause people are ignorant." She turned to Harvey after imparting her wisdom for the day. "I think I'm ready to sign tha' deal now."

A few hours later, she was gone after Mike escorted her to the elevator and Harvey was left staring at Mike with narrowed eyes. In the past few hours, he had been contemplating what to say to Mike now that he knew where the boy was actually from. He'd come up with a few scenarios all involving getting Mike to say something totally southern so Harvey could laugh at him but he'd discarded those for future use. Harvey cracked a smirk then sat down in his chair, threading his fingers together watching a nervous Mike reentered the room and stand a few feet away from the desk.

"Do you have any other secrets now, like being a secret agent or something?"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell ya." Mike said reverting back to his true accent now that there was no one else to walk in. Harvey just kept staring at him with unreadable eyes so he continued. "It's jus' tha' I've been using the other accent so long, Harvey, tha' it's my default now."

Harvey actually felt a shiver up his back when Mike said his name in that slow drawling voice. See, the thing about Harvey was that he liked accents. Well, like is a weak word, more like L-O-V-E-D accents. It was a weakness that had started in high school with an exchange student from Paris. Harvey had hit that so fast his head had spun and it wasn't from the girl's kissing technique either. Now that he knew that mike had an accent, those reasons for his insomnia came back to the front of his mind along with a few more involving cowboy hats, tight blue jeans, and some boots. Harvey stared at Mike, smile spreading across his face.

"Say it again."

Mike's head popped up in confusion, staring at Harvey like he'd lost his mind.

"My name. Say it again." Harvey specified, staring Mike down.

"Harvey?" Mike said hesitantly, still staring in confusion at him. Harvey smiled and stood, grabbing one of his business card from a stand on his desk. He scrawled out something then circled the desk, moving to stand a foot away from Mike. Harvey grabbed Mike's cheap skinny tie and pulled him forward, discreetly slipping the card into Mike's hand.

"8:00 o'clock sharp. Be there." Harvey said before releasing Mike's tie and heading for the door.

Mike glanced at the card. "What is it?"

Harvey grinned wickedly, turning to face Mike. "My address." He said simply before turning and opening the door. "Oh," He said looking back one last time over his shoulder. "Just because I'm a city boy doesn't mean I don't need a little Country Comfort, every now and then." With Mike's completely shocked (and maybe a little aroused) face staring back at him, Harvey smiled wickedly once more and walked down the hallway whistling 'Ladies love Country Boys.'


End file.
